Feb. 7: 12th Darwin Day: BEES!!!

Tuesday, February 7, 7pm in Library Events

Speaker Info Barrett Klein

Speaker’s Website Barrett Klein

The Library is also a co-sponsor.

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April 21: 8th Annual Earth Day: “The Honorable Harvest: Indigenous knowledge and conservation”

EVENT CANCELED; SPEAKER RAN INTO TRANSPORTATION DIFFICULTIES, PREVENTING HER FROM COMING 

Creating a partnership between traditional cultures and scientific innovation is possible and beneficial to the planet, says an environmental biologist who will speak at Indiana State University in observance of Earth Day.

Robin Kimmerer, professor of environmental biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, is the founding director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, which aims to create programs drawing on the wisdom of both indigenous populations and scientific knowledge for shared goals of sustainability.

 “I believe that environmental science and traditional knowledge can be symbiotic in nature, where the strengths and limitations of each knowledge system are balanced by the other,” Kimmerer said. “For example, the scientific method necessarily separates the observer and the observed, attempts to be strictly objective, rational and reductionist. Science engages the human powers of intellect, but explicitly excludes the other ways that humans have of understanding the world.

“Many of the questions of sustainability that we face involve the intersection between human culture and values and the natural world,” she added. “So relying on a single knowledge system, which excludes human values, is inadequate to address the challenges we face. Traditional knowledge is more holistic and includes values, ethics and responsibilities … so makes a good partner to balance scientific ways of knowing.”

Source: Tribune-Star – read entire article